


I am Ironman

by MistressRowen



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt Tony Stark, I'm Bad At Tagging, No Smut, Post-Avengers (2012)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:01:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22726567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistressRowen/pseuds/MistressRowen
Summary: Life for Tony continues after the invasion.
Kudos: 4





	I am Ironman

"I am Iron Man."  
Tony knew saying those words were akin to opening a can of snakes. He knew they would change his life. He knew there was no going back. He just hoped that Iron Man would be the good that Tony Stark couldn't be. That Tony Stark was too weak to be.   
After all the bad that he had done or that was done in his name, he had to rectify it. What better way to atone for the lives he had taken than through Iron Man, the hero. 

Slowly, the public started to see Tony as Iron Man, forgetting his Merchant of Death past. Especially after he spoke to the Senate and gave Rhodey the War Machine suit. By the time New York happened the public saw Tony as much of a Hero as Iron Man. But the public has always had a short memory.

Shield hadn't forgotten though. Tony Stark however much he was trying to do good; despite being willing to die, was still Not Recommend… but Iron Man was.

Rogers knew what he was in the beginning and called him out for it. He knew Tony wasn't an innately good person, but just a bad person doing some good things.

Tony asked the Avengers to move into Stark Tower. He had figured Bruce was tired of running. Thor needed a Midgardian home base. Natashalie and Barton could use more than a shield dorm room to live in. And Rogers needed something to bring him into the 21st century and who better than the biggest futurist out there.

Bruce took him up on the offer fairly quickly, the promise of a state-of-the-art lab will do that. Natashalie and Barton moved in around two months after New York, Barton limping and leaning on Natashalie after what was only described as a particularly bad mission. Thor just showed up one day burning some rune on to the roof. Soon after he asked if his Lady Jane could join him in the tower. She got a lab too and her grant paid by Stark Industries. While Tony himself wasn't overly interested in astrophysics and Einstein-Rosen bridges, he understood that it was important work and could lead to some amazing discoveries. Once most the team had moved in, Rogers showed; asking if he still had a room. He said something like the team should be together if they are needed. 

Slowly the Avengers started to trust each other. Natashalie and Barton had no issues trusting each other but, it was months before Jarvis told Tony that the two of them stopped carrying guns on their person in the tower. They still had knives but, it was something. Thor trusted everyone probably from day one; Tony chalked this to he had fought tougher things than the Avengers, so he probably wasn't worried. After a month or so Bruce, realizing that none of them were going to turn him over the General Ross, opened up quite a bit. Still cautious of his emotions but he didn't actively avoid everyone anymore. Rogers was decently quick to trust; Tony suspects it has something to do with both going on missions with the secret squirrel twins and Tony teaching him how to play Mario Kart well enough to destroy Barton on the next 'Team Game Night'.

Game nights and movie nights became a fairly common occurrence in the tower. Thor and Rogers having seen maybe 10 movie between the two of them and Natasha having only seen recent movies as the Red Room wasn't one for entertainment. Tony more often than now would skip the bonding experiences, not because of not wanting to participate but because work needed to be completed. He had Iron Man repairs and upgrades to complete, SHIELD security updates (because you shouldn't be able to be hacked via arrow), SHIELD equipment upgrades, he still had contracts with the military (not for weapons but armour, trucks, radios equipment, etc), the Avengers equipment (Widow bites, direction controlled explosive arrows, stretchy pants for Bruce's modesty, ear pieces that wouldn't be fried if Thor used his lightning, a better less spangley suit for Rogers), and everything needed to keep Stark Industries not just up and running but leading the industry.

Needless to say the Avengers didn't see much of Tony; sometimes they would catch him in the kitchen refilling his coffee mug, only to down it and refill it again before grunting a goodbye and going back down stairs. Bruce was routinely amazed by how productive Tony was. There was days when Bruce would be down for a 'Science Bros Session' work on whatever project they had open for a few hours, decide to go up stairs to eat and sleep and awaken to see that Tony hadn't left the lab much less eaten or slept. Bruce started making dinners to bring down to Tony and would try harder to drag him out of the lab for sleep, though it would rarely work.

As the Avengers became more of a household name, more villains came out of the woodwork to try and take them down. Doctor Doom was a particularly annoying one if you were to ask Tony. He had subpar engineering skills if his Doom-bots were to show for it. And didn't really seem to have a plan more than cause chaos and disrupt Tony's plans to finish the project of the day. 

This was unfortunately one of those days. Doom had unleashed an army of his Doom-bots in downtown New York during rush hour. And if this wasn't a big enough issue with the high risk of civilian casualties, but Doom was working with some new villain on the block. She looked young about 20, brown hair, and seemed to like the color red according to her outfit; all of this wouldn't have been an issue if not for two things. The glowing red magic hands that were letting her telekinesis shit around her and the big Hydra emblem on the chest.

Once Tony saw that he knew that this fight wasn't going to just end when they defeated the Doom-bots. This was joining to create a manhunt for Hydra. Tony knew that Rogers would stop at nothing to eradicate Hydra from the earth. And Tony knew Iron Man had to help him do it. 

As the Avengers ran into the fight trying to destroy the Doom-bots and protect people fleeing the area at the same time. It was quickly noticed that these weren't your run of the mill Doom-bots, Hydra had improved them; faster, stronger, able to fly, Hydra-made weapons. They were also smart; they knew the Avengers weaknesses. Barton was less effective if he continually had to abandon his over run perch. Hostages worked great as a distraction for Rogers. The bots also had a resistance to electrical sparks, making the Widow Bites useless and Thor's lightning an annoyance instead of its usual heavy hitter status. Brute force still worked but was slow going for Natashalie, the Hulk, and Thor just had heaps of Doom-bots attacking them at any given time. Iron Man had been given the task of try to stop the witch or stall her until he could get back up. With Thor's help, Tony had been working on making the suit more resistant to magic, so Tony was interested in seeing how it held up. 

It didn't.

The witch shredded the suit from his body. Hands still glowing she lifted Tony off the ground, if Tony had been able to speak or breathe he would have made a Darth Vader joke. She brought him closer to her and extended her hand towards his head.

He no longer saw her or the battle field, just ash and his friends, his family, the Avengers dead around him. 

This is your legacy. There may be six Avengers but you will always come out on top. Alone.

Tony feels as though his entire body is being crushed. He can't move, can't think.

You are Tony Stark, Merchant of Death. And that is all you bring to those around you and now it is time to pay for your crimes.

Tony feels like he is going to be turned inside out and there isn't a thing he can do about it. 

"No, I am Iron Man"


End file.
